thecapitol | open;

Who| Ellie and OPEN
What| Ellie has a bit of a good yell, and tries to take her mind off things around the capitol
Where| District 1 suite, Common room, and some places around town
When| Any time after Ellie's death (end week four) to the end of the arena
Warnings/Notes| Language

[Option 1: District One Suites]

Ellie awoke with a choking gasp, her eyes flying open and she sat bolt upright in bed. She was sweating, flushed with adrenaline, her heart hammering away in its chest as if it had just relearned how to beat.

In a way, it had.

It took her a few minutes to remember where she was, the cool dark of her room broken only by the faint glow of the city lights outside her window... screen... thing. Finally, silently, she pulled herself from the sheets and stumbled into the room, clutching her pajammas around her. She raised a shaking hand and scrubbed the tears from her eyes before they had a chance to fall. She was fine. She was fine, and she was alive, and she was back in the city. No matter how very, very fucked up that concept was.

"Shit," She muttered to herself, her voice cracking slightly before she drew in a breath and slipped out into the suite common room in the dead of night.

She needed to find a television.

[Option 2: Common Room]

She was quieter than she usually was. Most of her friends were still in the arena (in fact, nearly all of them), so she kept to herself and tended to watch a lot of it on the television. She hoarded popcorn, building a little fort up around her of blankets and pillows as if she could build herself a cocoon and keep the world away.

When the television flipped to yet another commercial for tribute action figures, she groaned loudly and threw popcorn. "You fucking stole mine, you bastards!"

[Option 3: Out on the streets]

She was still a bit wary, around so many people. Even in the quarantine zone, the sheer population of the place had never been this high, and after weeks in the arena she'd gotten used to people being a thread, and scarce. So she kept to the sidelines, weaving in and out quietly, though she did slip into the pastry shop (and actually bought one, rather than stealing it), coming back out of the shopping and nibbling on it as she looked over the crowd. God, but the capitolites were a strange bunch. At least it made the tributes fairly easy to spot....

[Option 4: In the Park]

When she found the park, she could help but feel her heart lift again. It was one of the things she had really loved about the outside, beyond the walls of the quarantine. Despite the infection, despite the nearly constant danger, being able to actually see natural rather than endless drab concrete was something she relished. So she didn't bother to hide her pleasure as she strolled through the park, knowing she was completely safe (or as safe as possible). She ran her fingers over the bark of the trees, slipping deeper and deeper into the forest. All sense of civilization around her was lost, as if she was entering another world.

Only then she realised she wasn't alone, and that sense of security was shattered.

"Who's there?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Orc gave her a very confused look.

"So...you're telling me that having this body, all this strength and stone skin DOESN'T make it easier for me to be a monster then it would if I was a squishy weak human?"

He wasn't smart but he thought he was smart enough to see that didn't make sense.

"Yeah humans can have accidents, but I have bigger accidents like this then I do when I'm just me."

"And I can't protect anybody in either body so what's the fucking point?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying," Ellie said, firmly. "Accidents don't make you a monster. What you do, does. Aunamee's a monster, Orc. You aren't. Period. Unless you let yourself turn into one, unless you make this place turn you into one." She took a step closer, less cautious now, and reached out to put a hand on his shoulder.

"I get that it sucks, alright? Especially the-- I won't ever be able to be with anyone either, you know? Not like-- not like that. Sex is kind of off the table. So I know that it sucks. But you can't let them do this to you."

He was calming down, her words sinking in even if he didn't want them too. Her confession distracted him though.

"What's wrong with you then?" He asked with all the grace and finesse of a eloquent bull moose. "Why can't you have a normal life other then the arena?"

"Because I'm sick, okay?" She said, sounding fairly defensive. It was close enough to ring true, but far enough to keep her secret safe.

"Because I'm sick. I don't look it, because it-- the symptoms don't show, in me, but I get too close to anyone and-- And I'd kill them, Orc. And probably more people than them, too. So no. I can't have a normal life."

Well that made it pretty clear even if she didn't use the hows or the whys.

"Have you tried while in the Capitol? They probably turned it off to protect you and everyone else." He was one of the only tributes who's powers still functioned. And even still he knew he wasn't as strong here as he was in the arena.

"They have the power to do anything, to make our lives better."

"It's not a power, Orc, it's a disease." She looked at him flatly.

"You've still got rock skin, right? They only take away shit that would really help us in the Arena. R's still all fucked up to. They took that away, and then..." She sighed. "He's back like normal now. If you can call that normal."

Orc waved a hand gently like shooing away the comments.

"Zombie is a disease too. If they can fix R they can fix AIDS or whatever." Because clearly that was what she was talking about.

"If they won't do it by themselves then maybe ask one of the rich guys who come to the parties to help you. They spend stupid money on dresses and shit for tributes all the time. Maybe they'd do something useful for a change."

Clearly Orc had hit the proper amount of drunk to be insightful...or at least as insightful as a fifteen year old alcoholic who's education was mostly TV based can be.

"Yeah, well, they fixed R for one arena," Ellie pointed out, bluntly. "Just like they fixed you. And mine isn't nearly as interesting, so I really don't think they are going to care."

Plus she didn't trust them as far as she could throw them.

He sighed, always on the losing end of arguments.

"Whatever. You're worth caring about."

He just wished he had enough braincells to rub together to figure out a way to help her that didn't involve hitting things. And now all that alcohol was churning in his guts. It was going to be a long day.

"I hate this place." He concluded.

She raised a hand, rubbing through her hair.

"... Thanks, Orc. You are too, you know? Rocky skin and all."

She let out a sigh.

"But yeah. This place is fucked up. No argument."

Even if a lot of it was better than home.

He let the thoughts linger for a moment burying a face in a rocky hand.

"So my best friend hates me. What do I do?" Because apologizing clearly wasn't good enough.

"Also my best friend and...I guess girlfriend hate each other."

"Well you're going to have to make it up to him," Ellie said, though not unkindly. "You went behind his back, Orc, you're going to need to apologize and then make it up to him. He'll come around. You guys have been friends for ages."

She shrugged about the second part though. "I don't know her," She said, and that was true. They hadn't met yet. "But if they broke up, Orc, there's going to be some bad blood there. It's not really up to you to fix that."

"Hey...wait." He held up his hand defensively.

"I didn't do nothin' behind his back. He broke up with her. Acted like he didn't care. And she needed someone to love her. I just didn't realize it was a bad thing till it was too late."

And then Diana had to reveal it to him in the worst possible way.

It's not like he'd stolen her away. That would just be down and dirty.

"Dude, I come from the apocalypse and even I know you don't date your best friend's ex," She said, but it came with a wry smile. She only really knew that from comic books, after all.

"Look I'm not... saying that you shouldn't be with her or whatever, but you can see why he's upset, right?"

From the look on his face though Orc still didn't get it.

"Not really...he acted like she was nothing to him. It's not like she broke up with him. I mean if she hurt him that's one thing but he hurt her."

He rubbed his face once again making the sound of stones scraping together.

"Why can't he ever just be honest?"

"Well what was he supposed to say, Orc? 'Please don't bang my ex girlfriend because it would make me upset'? People pretend things don't hurt them because they think if they do that they won't be hurt." She shrugged.

"It's not really you he's being dishonest with, in that instance, is it."

That seemed to strike a cord with Orc. Her ran a hand over his face once again.

"Yeah...Howard's good at doing that sort of stuff. Maybe even he doesn't realize how good."

Maybe someone had to point it out to him.

"Sorry again...for everything."

"It's alright, Orc," She said quietly.

"Come on, I'll get you home."

Orc drug himself to his feet feeling a little more clear headed now that Ellie had shouted him out of his self deprecation.

This did not however, settle well with his stomach. He was still quite drunk after all. And thus he stumbled about for feet away, and threw up all over a nicely manicured hedge.

He might need a few minutes.

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And on this lovely note, would you like to wrap?

looks good to me! c: